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"The  Indian  in  Agriculture. 

By  J.  E.  SHIELDS. 


A  _  Eapcr  Agad  b^for^-t^^  ^'r-^t  Annual  rnnfer^nre  Ql_Thp  American  Indian  As— 
«8«6e»7--9hiD-State-Unw€rsity-,  Columbus^  October  12  to  15,  191  J. 

ArilUCri.TURE  AMONG  THE   INDIANS   FROM   THE   OLD  TO  THE   NEW. 

One  of  the  greatest  problems  that  has  confronted  the  government  of 
the  United  States  has  been  the  question^  ef  how  to  deal  with  the  Indian, 
and  lead  him  from  former  environments^  sever  him  from  the  previously 
fiAi'iivx!  noi'iiadic  habits  of  liuiiler  and  plainsman,  and  transform  him 
into  a  citizen  and  agriculturist. 

There  have  been  volumes  written  upon  this  subject,  and  I  do  not 
presume  to,  within  the  short  time  allotted  to  the  reading  of  this  paper, 
advance  any  new  theories  ort  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the  many  com 
plicated  questions  that  naturally  present  themselves  in  relation  to  the 
Indian  affairs  and  the  governmental  policy  in  dealing  with  him  as  a 
ward  or  as  a  citizen.  My  purpose  is  to  state  as  briefly  as  possible  to  what 
the  Indian  has  accomplished  in  Oklahoma^  and  to  point  out  some  things 
in  connection  with  his  development  which  are  within  themselves  a  splen 
did  prophecy  of  future  success.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  but  little 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  the  Cheyenne  and  Arapaho  Indians 
were  restless,  wandering  plainsmen,  for  whom  the  reservation  had  no 
attraction  and  whose  untamed  spirit  tenaciously  held  out  against  the 
restraints  which  the  rapidly  advancing  westward  marching  civilization 
was  slowly  but  surely  throwing  around  them.  The  buffalo  had  disap 
peared  from  the  western  plains.  The  settlements  were  gradually  push 
ing  westward  and  the  time  had  come  for  the  passing  of  the  old  and  the 
'ling  of  the  new. 

As  far  back  as  the  early  seventies  in  the  last  century,  the  Cheyennes 
and,  Arapahoes  had  commenced  to  take  hold  of  the  new  problems  of 
citizenship  upon  which  hung  their  future  destiny. 

To  describe  their  first  steps  in  the  new  way,  I  herewith  submit  an 
extract  from  Agent  Darlington,  in  the  third  annual  report,  dated  August 
26.  1871.  which  illustrates  the  early  steps  taken. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  report  considerable  advancement  in 
•.he  objects  connected  with  this  Agency  since  my  last  report. 

We  know  of  but  one  instance  of  any  depredations  being  committed 
since  our  last  annual  report.  The  last  winter's  hunt  realized  a  bountiful 
harvest  of  excellent  robes.  A  member  of  the  Arapahoes  were  ready  to 
raise  corn  and  other  produce.  "Big  Mouth"  was  the  leading  chief  in 


4Aventy-five  acres  of  corn,  of  which  he  is  justly  proudx" 
'kl"  that  they  would  not  take  the  corn  road  until  they 
saw  how  the  Arapahoes  succeeded.     Some  little  farming  was  being  done 
by  the  Indians  from  1871  to  1877,  but  for  the  lack  of  plows  and  other 
farming  tools  the  farm  work  was  limited. 

In  1877  our  Agency  received  a  large  s^wpmenTctf  plows  arid  wagons, 
which  were  shipped  to  Wichita,  Kansas,  wtuigl£iui»s  then  our  nearest 
railroad  point. 

The   Cheyenne  and   Arapahoe   Transportation   Company   was    com 
posed  wholly  of  Indians,  and  as  "they  set  out  from  the  Agency  with/^x  ^ 
160  of  their  best  horses  and  mules,  bound  for  the  city  of  Wichita  in  f 
charge  of  two  Government  employes   wlio   acted  as  wagon  masters,   it    ^ 
was  a  unique  company.     Their  arrival  was  a  novel  sight  to  the  citizens 
of  Wichita,     Crowds  of  them  were  soon  at  the  depot.     Some  of  them 
offered  to  assist  in  "setting  up"  the  wagons,  but  the  trainmasters  would 
•accept  of  no  help  except  from  the  Indians. 

Awkward  as  they  were  at  first,  they  soon  learned  how  to  put  a 
wagon  together.  In  three  days  they  were  ready  to  hitch  up  and  pull 
out  the  train  of  forty,  four-horse  wagons,  hauling  sixty-five  thousand 
pounds  of  supplies,  which  the  Indians  delivered  to  the  Darlington 
Agency  in  good  order  and  condition.  Then  the  Indians  were  the  happy 
owners  of  wagons,  harness  and  plows,  paid  for  by  their  own  honest 
labor.  Thus  the  Indians  were  able  to  farm  on  a  larger  scale,  and^were  fi 
making  good  headway,  as  there  were  a  good  many  small  fields  being 
opened  up  along  the  river  bottoms. 

In  1889  and  1890  the  allotting  of  this  reservation  begyin,  and  each 
man,  woman  and  child  was  allotted  -hip  ur-.imr  160  acres  6i  lancl  and  it 
was  intended-  that  each  family  of  Indians  alould  move  on  their  own 
allotment  to  live.  This  of  course  was  some  thing  new  for  the  Indians 
as  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  living  in  4tttie-villages  wherever  they 
choose,  but  after  some  little  time  and  with  the  untiring  efforts  of  the 
Agents,  the  Indians  were  finally  induced  to  move  on  their  allotments/ 
and  those  that  were  able  began  building  and  opening  up  little  farms.  In 
all  the  farming  that  they  had  been  doing  they  had  to  use  their  small 
ponies  for  work  stock,  and  this  was  becoming  somewhat  discouraging, 
and  some  of  them  were  about  to  give  up  farming,  but  somtTof  the  more 
industrious  fellows  who  were  drawing  -kig.  annuity,  managed  to  get 
money  enough  to  buy  farm  horses.  About  this  time  the  Indians  began 
leasing  their  lands,  and  white^this  was  considered  by  some/  a  drawback 
to  their  farming,  for  it  enabled  them  to  have  their  lands  worked  by  the 
white  people,  yet  some  of  the  Indians  made  good  use  of  their  lease 
money,  by  buying  a  better  class  of  horses.  In  the  last  few  years  the  In- 
dians  have  been  selling  their  inherited  lands  and  this^  together  with  their 
lease  money  has  enabled  them  to  buy  up-to-date  farming  implements. 


' 


I  have  often  heard  the  remark  made  that  the  Indian  could  never 
be  induced  to  farm  his  own  land,  but  I  must  say  that  this  is  a  big  mistake, 
for  in  looking  the  country  over  you  will  find  that  the  Indians  have  many 
nice  little  homes  and  model  farms  in  connection  with  these  homes  being 
operated  by  full  blooded  Indians. 

The  Indians  are  rapidly  advancing  in  agriculture,  as  has  twice  been 
proven  «frr  the  last  two  annual  fairs  that  we  have  had  for  our  Indians, 
and  wit!T>me  exception,  that  of  live-stock,  we  have  proven  to  our  white 
brother  that  we  are  his  equal  as^agriculturist.  At  our  annual  Indian  Fair 
which  was  held  at  Weatherford,  Oklahoma,  and  by  the  way  which  was 
our  first  real  Indian  fair,  we  had  about  30  entries  in  the  live-stock  and 
poultry  department,  and  this  year  with  our  fair  at  Watonga,  Oklahoma, 
we  had  90  entries  in  the  live-stock  and  poultry  department.  Showing  a 
great  advance  over  last  year,  and  as  we  are  yet  young  in  the  fair  busi 
ness,  having  had  just  the  two  Indian  fairs,  we  expect  grea^jresults  in  the 
near  future,  for  I  believe  that  our  Indian  fairs  are  doing  as  much  as 
any  other  one  factor  towaid  advancing  the  Indian  in  agriculture. 

The  fair  which  we  held  at  Weatherford  last  year,  as  before  stated 
was  our  first  endeavor  along  that  line.  The  results  were  very  gratifying. 
The  fair  at  Watonga  this  year  was  a  revelation  to  many  people  who  did 
not  know  the  capability  of  the  Indian  along  agricultural  lines.  The  fair 
at  Watonga  was  well  attended  by  people  from  all  over  the  country.  They 
were  there  from  many  states. ^People  from  other  states  who  were  at 
tracted  to  the  Watonga  Fair  by  the  extensive  publicity  given  it  through 
the  local  and  outside  press,  were  surprised  to  find  a  large  concourse  of 
Indians,  not  the  wild  man  of  the  prairie,  but  many  of  them  exhibitors 
of  agricultural  products,  and  deeply  interested  in  farming.  Of  course 
there  were  divers  exhibitions  of  old  time  Indian  customs  and  traditions, 
such  as  war  dances,  sham  battles,  etc.,  for  amusements,  but  all  this  was 
more  in  the  way  of  stage  play  than  anything  else.  It  bore  the  same 
relation  to  the  past  that  the  modern  stage  does  to  past  history  and 
conditions. 

It  was  a  representation  of  what  had  been  and  not  what  is  to-day. 
Xo  better  representation  of  the  real  merits  of  the  fair  at  Watonga  could 
be  given  than  an  extract  from  the  recent  article  in  the  Post-Dispatch,  of 
St.  Louis,  by  Frederick  Barde  of  Guthrie,  newspaper  correspondent  and 
magazine  writer,  who  attended  the  Watonga  Fair  to  secure  data  for  a 
number  of  newspapers  and  magazine  articles  in  relation  to  the  Indians. 
Mr.  Barde,  among  other  things,  had  the  following  to  say  in  his  Post- 
Dispatch  articles:  This  fair  movement  was  organized,  primarily,  by  the 
Superintendents  of  the  United  States  Indian  Department,  of  whom  there 
are  four,  William  I>.  Freer  of  Darlington,  Walter  F.  Dickens  of  Colony 
Oklahoma,  Byron  E.  White  of  Cantonment,  and  Willis  E.  Dunn  of 
Red  Moon,  Oklahoma.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  Federal  Government 

3 


that  the  fair  in  time  shall  be  managed  by  the  Indians.  These  Superin 
tendents  are  merely  teaching  the  Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes  to  walk  in 
the  fair  business.  The  president  of  the  Fair  Association,  John  Otterby, 
is  a  full-blood  Cheyenne  and  a  man  of  keen  intelligence.  An  advisory 
committee  is  chosen  each  year  by  the  Indians,  and  consist  of  28  members 
of  whom  17  are  Cheyenne  and  n  Arapahoe,  in  proportion  to  tribal 
population.  The  white  men  of  Watonga  and  Elaine  County  looked  with 
astonishment  upon  this  second  Indian  fair.  There  were  visitors  from  as 
far  north  as  Chicago  and  as  far  south  as  Houston,  Texas.  Notwith 
standing  the  bad  crop  year  no  better  corn  should  be  found  in  Oklahoma 
than  was  shown  in  the  pavilion  devoted  to  agriculture  and  domestic 
economy,  and  much  of  the  corn  was  equal  to  the  best  grown  in  any  sea 
son  in  Missouri,  Nebraska  or  Kansas.  There  were  exhibits  of  Kaffir 
corn,  wheat,  oats,  watermelons,  pumpkins,  squashes,  alfalfa,  onions, 
potatoes,  tomatoes  and  other  garden  vegetables. 

I,n  several,  booths  were  exhibits  of  the  work  of  the  boys  and  girls 
in  the  Indian  schools.  The  Indians  seem  to  enjoy  even  more  than  white 
persons  the  sight  in  this  .pavilion,  and  all  day  long  they  stood  and  gazed 
at  the  exhibits.  A  Cheyenne  father  with  a  blood  red  feather  dangling 
from  his  scalplock  stood  with  his  squaw  and  pointed  at  this  apron  or 
dress,  or  at  that  cake  or  jar  of  jelly  that  had  been  made  by  their  daughter, 
and  both,  seemed  mightily  pleased. 

Tfre  Indians  began  corning  to  the  fair  a  week  before  it  was  opened. 
Some  of  them  traveled  more  than  a  hundred  miles  by  \vagon,  camping 
along  the  way.  On  Sunday  night  the  Indians  assembled  in  the  grand 
stand,  where  prayer  was  offered  by  missionaries  and  by  converted  Indians. 
There  were  "experience"  talks  by  Indian  leaders  and  the  singing  of 
hymns. 

The  preceding  quotation  from  Mr.  Barde's  article  is  introduced  here 
to  show  what  was  thought  of  the  Indian  argicultural  exhibit  by  one  who 
has  no  special  interest  in  the  fair,  except  as  writer  and  newspaper  re 
porter.  It  was  common  talk  at  the  Watonga  that  the  Indian  agricultural 
exhibit  surpassed  in  quality  and  quantity  those  of  the  Elaine  County  fair 
which  had  been  put  on  exhibition  by  white  farmers  when  that  fair  was 
held  in  August  preceding  the  Indian  fair.  While  we  all  realize  that  the 
Indian  has  to  move  on  slowly  and  will  be  encompassed  by  many  diffi 
culties  in  his  sudden  transition  from  wandering  plainsman  to  farmer, 
yet  enough  has  been  seen  of  his  work  to  demonstrate  that  he  can  and 
will,  become  a  successful  grower  of  corn  and  raiser  of  stock  if  given  an 
opportunity  to  show  what  he  can  do.. 

The  Indian  in  farming,  is  like  a  child  learning  to  walk.  He  has  to 
take  short  steps  and  he  may  fall  now  and  then,  but,  like  the  child,  he 
will  get  up  and  try  it  over  until  he  succeeds. 


Husbandry  was  man's  first  occupation  and  it  is  the  foundation  of 
success  in  every  true  civilization. 

The  progressive  Indians  all  realize  that  the  farm  is.  the  hope  of 
their  people,  and  they  are  determined  to  make  the  best  of  it. 

Traditions  and  customs  could  not  change  in  a  day. 

The  Indian  had  to  work  up  to  the  new  problems  gradually.  But  no 
one  knows  better  than  he  knows  that  the  traditions  of  the  past  now  live 
only  in  dreams  and  the  visions  of  the  night.  The  old  days  have  gone 
never  to  return.  They  have  passed  on,  but  cannot  come  back.  The 
plains  where  his  fathers  chased  the  wild  buffalo,  are  now  covered  by 
farms.  The  wild  deer  have  gone,  and  the  lands  where  they  roamed  have 
become  the  homes  of  the  domestic  horse  and  the  cow.  Out  of  the  stir 
ring  and  eventful  past,  the  Indian  has  come  with  his  eye  now  fixed  on 
the  sun  of  the  future.  He  realizes  that  his  road  is  not  through  the  past 
but  that  it  leads  far  into  the  future.  His  eyes  are  not  fixed  upon  the 
setting  b*ut  upon  the  rising  sun.  When  the  sun  of  past  traditions  went 
down  in  the  west,  the  new  sun  of  hope  and  promise  arose  for  him  in 
the  east. 

He  now  stands  ready  with  the  white  man  to  go  forward  and  work 
out  the  problems  of  civilization. 

Give  the  Indian  an  opportunity.     Lend  him  encouragement. 

He  will  do  his  duty  and  not  long  be  behind  in  the  race  of  life. 


'>qof{    firf? 


'i  HE  :•(!  •  io 
no  b^xC*  ••':: 
r^q  arif  r)^r 


srii 


.ii.f;r»r.«d   hlr// 


J.  N.  B. 

"The  Indian  as  a  Skilled  Mechanic." 

By  CHARLES  DOXON. 

A  Paper  read  before  the  First  Annual  Conference  of  The  American  Indian  As 
sociation,  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  October  12  to  15,  lilll. 

In  speaking  of  the  Indian  as  a  skilled  mechanic  I  shall  endeavor 
to  show  you  the  actual  advancement  he  has  made  up  to  the  present  time 
as  such,  and  what  his  opportunity  is  in  reaching  the  point  of  excellence 
that  draws  the  attention  of  the  mechanical  world. 

The  word  "mechanic"  covers  a  great  many  trades,  but  I  can  speak 
of  only  a  few  which  are  followed,  so  far,  by  the  Indians. 

The  first  trade  that  was  taken  up  by  an  Indian,  that  I  know  of,  is 
that  of  carpenter  trade.  I  have  known  one  for  many  years.  That  he  is 
skillful  at  the  trade  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  always  has  a  job ;  doing 
the  inside  finish  as  well  as  the  outside  from  the  foundation  to  the  top. 
He  is  spoken  of  by  his  fellow  carpenters,  (white  men)  as  ranking  amongst 
the  best  mechanics  in  their  union.  The  inside  and  outside  finish  of  his 
own  nine-room  house  is  the  work  of  his  own  hand  and  compares  very 
favorably  with  the  finest  homes  along  the  city  line. 

Another  Indian  mechanic  that  I  am  well  acquainted  with  is  a  black 
smith.  He  is  not  employed  in  the  city,  but  has  a  blacksmith  shop  of 
his  own.  He  does  all  the  resetting  of  wagon  tires  and  horseshoeing  to 
be  done  in  his  neighborhood  both  for  whites  and  Indians.  He  can  weld 
a  new  steel  on  an  old  axe,  so  that  it  would  sink  into  the  wood  like  a 
new  axe.  In  describing  the  perfection  of  the  old  axes  he  has  repaired, 
his  customers  use  the  old  saying,  "The  chips  fly  before  it  strikes  the 
wood."  Is  he  not  worthy  of  the  name  "skilled  mechanic?" 

There  are  a  few  machinists  that  I  know  of  who  are  steadily  employed 
in  large  shops  throughout  the  country.  While  I  am  unable  to  point  out 
to  you  some  great  examples  of  what  they  have  done,  it  is  not  a  proof 
that  they  are  not  as  skilled  at  their  trades  as  those  of  the  carpenter  and 
blacksmith  I  spoke  of.  If  he  is  a  lathe  hand,  the  parts  he  finishes  are 
lost  in  the  construction  of  a  machine.  If  he  is  a  fitter  or  assembler  his 
part  of  work  is  lost  when  the  machine  goes  out  of  the  factory.  If  you  go 
into  a  supply  house  for  inspection  and  ask  the  salesman  who  made  the 
machine  you  are  pointing  at,  he  will  tell  you  it  was  made  by  such  and 
such  a  firm.  All  the  credit  of  fine  workmanship  of  the  machine  goes  to 
the  president  of  that  firm.  But  the  machinist  does  not  think  of  that.  He 
begins  his  work  every  morning  with  the  full  sense  of  responsibility  for 
speed  and  accuracy  of  the  work  to  be  turned  out.  Even  if  the  machine 
he  is  running  is  an  automatic  one,  he  must  be  constantly  wide  awake  as 


to  the  accuracy  of  its  operation,  lie  must  see  that  the  size  and  shape 
of  the  work  he  is  turning  out  do  not  vary.  This  is  clone  by  frequent 
tests  and  a  proper  care  of  the  machine  and  the  cutting  tools.  In  fact, 
he  must  be  on  the  job  all  the  time,  mentally  if  not  physically. 

If  a  mechanic  is  employed  in  fitting  or  assembling  he  begins  his  work 
with  the  same  sense  of  responsibility  as  that  of  the  machinist ;  he  picks 
up  the  finished  parts  that  are  sent  to  him  and  places  them  in  their  proper 
positions.  He  must  know  the  duty  of  each  part ;  in  other  words  he  must 
be  theoretical,  in  the  common  sense  of  the  word,  at  least.  If  a  piece  is 
to  have  a  running  fit  it  must  be  thoroughly  tested ;  if  it  is  to  have  a 
driving  fit  it  must  receive  the  full  share  of  consideration.  So  as  he 
assembles  the  engine  or  machine  he  corrects  the  faults  as  he  goes  along 
by  chipping  or  filing.  While  the  whole  construction  must  receive  the 
greatest  of  care,  it  also  requires  a  great  deal  of  muscle.  The  mechanic 
must  shove,  pull  and  drive  with  a  hard  and  soft  hammer  as  the  case  may 
require,  yet  when  the  machine  is  finished  there  should  not  be  even  a 
scratch  mark  left  on  it.  And  as  you  look  at  it  in  its  brightness  you  would 
not  think  it  had  received  a  blow.  If  a  mechanic  cannot  finish  his  work 
like  that  he  is  soon  detected  by  the  sharp  inspectors  and  is  put  down  as 
unskilled  and  undesirable ;  and  therefore  he  cannot  hold  his  own.  All 
those  Indian  mechanics,  that  I  know  of,  are  holding  their  own  wherever 
they  are  employed.  , 

I  have  heard  and  read  of  other  Indian  mechanics  who  have  succeeded 
even  better  than  those  I  have  known.  While  we  cannot  yet  put  up  one 
to  'equal  some  of  the  famous  white  mechanics  yet  it  is  no  proof  that 
we  never  will.  In  the  short  time  that  we  have  been  in  actual  contact 
with  our  white  brothers  I  think  we  have  made  a  great  stride  toward  it. 

I  began  my  schooling  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  Just  coming  out  of 
a  primitive  state  of  influences,  I  found  myself  as  timid  as  a  rabbit 
amongst  the  whites.  But  by  a  persistent  effort  I  gained  and  enjoyed 
respect  amongst  them  far  more  than  my  expectation. 

The  present  generation  is  now  being  drawn  forward  by  many  forces 
and  influences,  the  greatest  of  which  is  inducement,  the  same  force  that 
has  placed  the  white  race  at  the  head  of  the  industrial  progress. 

But  we  Indians,  must  understand,  however,  just  as  the  white  under 
stands,  that  inducement  is  an  independent  element.  Only  those  qualified 
need  apply  for  it.  In  other  words  the  individual  must  bear  in  mind  the 
truth  that  he  must  have  reached  the  point  of  excellence  before  he  can 
hope  to  command  that  valuable  element,  the  inducement.  The  young 
generation  does  not  understand  the  truth  of  that,  and  since  it  will  never 
understand  it  without  the  proper  training,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  see 
that  it  is  kept  in  the  field  of  such  activity  as  shall  lead  the  way  to  suc 
cess  and  when  it  shall  have  reached  the  point  of  excellence,  the  induce 
ment  will  do  the  rest. 

2 


I  3- 
j.   N.    B.   Hswitt. 

Modern  Home-Making  and  the  Indian  Woman. 

By   MRS.  MARIE  L.  BALDWIN. 

A  Paper  read  before  the  First  Annual  Conference  of  The  American  Indian  As 
sociation,   Ohio  State  University,   Columbus,  October  12  to  15,   1911. 

Were  I  to  follow  my  own  desire  I  should  b'e  quick  to  accuse  myself 
of  presumption  in  speaking  on  so  weighty  a  theme  as  "Home-making  and 
the  American  Indian  Woman,"  subjects  which  have  puzzled  many  minds, 
but  1  reassure  myself  with  the  thought  that  I  am  only  lesponding  to 
my  assignment  to  this  task  by  the  Honorable  Committee  which  prepared 
the  Program  of  this  First  Annual  Convention  of  the  American  Indian 
Association. 

Reversing  the  order  of  the  subjects  of  the  title  let  us  ask,  first,  what 
\vas  the  Indian  woman  of  the  Xorth  American  continent? 

To  judge  from  her  share  in  the  arts,  the  culture  and  the  manifold 
activities  of  the  life  of  her  people,  she  was  a  most  magnificent  savage 
and  barbarian,  yet  she  was  none  the  less  a  woman  —  human,  noble,  pa 
triotic, —  and  above  all  a  mother  —  fond,  loving,  careful,  religious, 
-  whose  tireless  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  to  home,  husband  and  de 
pendent  children  yield  the  first  place  to  that  of  no  other  woman. 

The  North  American  Indian  woman  lived  under  great  differences  of 
climatic  and  other  environmental  conditions,  for  she  occupied  the  entire 
continent  from  the  cheerless  Arctic  wastes  to  the  regions  of  the  torrid 
zone,  and  in  this  vast  territory  there  were  great  treeless  tracts,  broad, 
barren  and  waterless  plains  and  valleys,  and  rich  forested  lands ;  and  in 
this  varied  habitat  the  fiora  and  the  fauna  differed  greatly ;  and  it  was  in 
this  vast  territory  of  propitious  and  of  hostile  environments  the  Xorth 
American  Indian  woman  kindled  the  fires  of  her  home  and  those  of 
sacred  altars  to  her  many  gods. 

In  a  large  number  of  tribes  she  was  on  an  absolute  equality  with 
her  sons  and  brothers  in  the  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  the  several  rights 
and  patrimony  of  her  people  ;  and  by  exceptional  environmental  condi 
tions  she  established  matronymical  or  matriarchal  institutions,  in  which 
she  was  supreme  in  the  choice  of  her  rulers  who  were  of  course  her 
sons  and  brothers,  and  whose  titles  to  ofBce  were  hereditary  in  her. 
own  right  and  over  which  she  had  the  absolute  right  of  recall.  She  her 
self  in  some  cases  exercised  executive  functions  in  the  various  activities 
of  her  people. 

The  division  of  labor  between  the  woman  and  her  sons  and  brothers 
began  with  the  establishment  of  the  first  home.  And  it  must  be  remem- 


bered  that  this  division  was  based  on  considerations  of  sex, — on  mother 
hood  ;  and  it  was  emphasized  by  the  invention  and  use  of  fire.  The 
woman  remained  by  the  fire  to  feed  and  keep  it  alive  to  warm  her  home 
and  offspring  and  also  to  broil  the  meat  and  to  bake  the  roots  and  the 
tubers  prepared  for  the  food  of  herself  and  her  family. 

The  food  quest:  The  American  Indian  woman,  or  as 'she  has  been 
aptly  called  the  Amerindian  woman  was  the  fruit-gatherer  and  the  berry- 
picker,  the  nut  and  the  acorn  collector,  and  the  harvester  of  grass  seeds 
and  wild  rice,  mesquite  beans,  and  every  edible  member  of  the  surround 
ing  flora ;  she  gathered  oysters,  clams,  and  other  shell  fish,  and  in  some 
regions  she  dried  the  oysters  for  future  use ;  she  was  also  a  fisher-woman 
as  well,  catching  various  kinds  of  fish  and  eels ;  of  the  latter  many  hun 
dred  weight  have  been  found  cure:!  and  store:!  in  the  larder  of  the 
lodge;  she  was  not  only  the  food  gatherer,  but  she  and  her  daughters 
were  also  the  water-carriers  and  the  guardians  of  the  springs  of  water 
and  pools  of  fresh  water. 

As  a  founder  of  Social  organization,  the  American  Indian  or  rather 
Amerindian  woman  had  to  suffer  the  pains  of  motherhood,  and  in  most 
cases  she  bore  this  travail  alone  and  without  the  presence  and  encourage 
ment  of  the  father  of  her  offspring,  for  her  mother,  aunts,  or  possibly, 
her  elder  sister,  acted  as  midwife  and  nurse. 

In  those  regions  where  nature  was  niggard  of  her  gifts  of  food  and 
drink  and  shelter  there  often  arose  the  question  whether  the  new-born 
creature  should  or  should  not  be  permitted  to  live;  and  the  mother  was 
often  the  one  to  raise  this  question ;  this  was  frequently  the  case  \vith 
the  Eskimo  woman;  if  however,  as  elsewhere,  it  was  permitted  to  live  it 
was  carefully  nursed  and  educated  in  the  duties  of  a  woman  of  her 
people.  Its  education  usually  ended  with  the  age  of  puberty. 

In  Mexico,  according  to  the  codices  there  were  near  the  temple 
buildings  used  as  seminaries  for  the  nurture  of  girls,  over  which  pre 
sided  matrons  or  vestal  priestesses ;  these  buildings  were  guarded  by  day 
and  by  night  by  old  men ;  the  girls  could  not  leave  their  apartments  with 
out  a  chaperon;  and  if  one  broke  this  regulation  her  feet  were  pricked 
with  thorns  until  the  blood  flowed ;  the  girls  of  these  seminaries  swept  the 
precincts  of  the  temple  and  kept  the  sacred  fire  in  it  alive ;  they  were 
taught  featherwork,  and  were  instructed  how  to  spin  and  how  to  weave 
mantles  and  other  useful  articles  of  great  beauty ;  they  were  required  to 
bathe  frequently  and  to  be  skilled  and  diligent  in  all  duties  of  the  house 
hold ;  they  were  taught  to  speak  with  reverence,  to  humble  themselves 
before  their  elders  and  to  maintain  a  modest  and  reserved  demeanor  at 
all  times. 

A  WEAVER:  The  textile  industry  of  the  American  Indian  woman 
may  be  conveniently  divided  into  basket-making  and  weaving;  in  addi- 

2 


lion  she  spun,  netted,  looped,  braided,  sewed,  and  embroidered.  Baskets 
of  splints,  of  bark,  of  grass,  of  bast,  of  skins,  and  of  roots,  according  to 
locality  and  need,  are  found;  some  baskets  were  woven  on  a  warp,  and 
others  were  sewed  by  the  continuous  stitching  of  a  coil;  the  types,  the 
fiineness  and  the  beauty  of  the  designs  and  decorations,  are  unsurpassed 
by  the  art  of  the  women  of  other  races.  Unrivalled  too  in  beauty  and 
workmanship  were  the  mantles  and  the  headdresses  of  featherwork  and 
of  the  skins  of  rare  birds  of  brilliant  plumage. 

A  SKIX-DRESSER:  The  dressing  of  a  skin  was  not  a  short  or  easy 
process;  the  kincl  of  skin  and  the  object  in  view  largely  determined  the 
process  through  which  it  was  carefully  put  to  prepare  it  for  use.  The 
hides  of  deer,  wolves,  foxes,  buffalo,  musk  oxen,  antelopes,  bears,  rac 
coons,  walrus,  moose,  elk,  beavers,  gophers,  muskrats,  seals,  skunks, 
squirrels,  porcupines,  hares,  opossums,  alligators,  tortoises,  birds  of  all 
kinds,  fishes,  and  reptiles,  and  authentic  tradition  says,  of  human  beings, 
were  some  of  those  which  the  primitive  American  Indian  woman  em 
ployed  in  her  many  industries.  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  all 
the  tools  required  in  the  various  processes  to  make  them  articles  of  use 
were  designed  and  made  by  her  own  hands. 

THE  BURDEX-I'.EARER:  In  the  division  of  labor  which  w^e  have  seen 
was  equitable,  the  woman  became  the  burden-bearer  of  the  family,  a 
task  which  she  shared  with  her  growing  children ;  many  devices  for 
carrying  infants  were  invented  and  utilized,  as  well  as  those  adapted  for 
the  carrying  of  meat,  skins,  fish,  fuel,  water,  and  even  clay  for  pottery; 
and  splints,  bark,  fibres,  reeds,  grasses  and  tough  roots  were  collected 
and  carried  home  on  the  back  of  the  woman  to  be  utilized  in  her  many 
crafts  in  husbandry,  housekeeping  and  the  textile  arts,  as  basket-maker, 
planter,  tailor,  and  shoemaker. 

A  POTTER  :  In  the  process  of  washing  and  mixing  her  clay  for  mak 
ing  pots,  she  carefully  assorted  it  for  different  kinds  of  ware,  the  coarser 
grades  of  clay  for  the  ruder  ware  and  the  finer  material  for  her  more 
artistic  and  pretentious  productions ;  thus  a  delicacy  of  feeling,  the 
training  of  the  judgment,  and  a  keen  sense  of  color,  were  gradually  de 
veloped  in  the  conscientious  pursuit  of  her  craft. 

The  beauty  and  the  exquisite  workmanship  displayed  in  the  decora 
tion  and  in  the  designing  of  the  many  productions  of  her  handicraft 
show  clearly  that  her  artistic  taste  has  grown  apace  with  the  development 
of  the  various  departments  of  her  industry. 

AN  AGRICULTURIST:  The  American  Indian  woman  with  her  children 
was  the  agriculturist  of  her  people;  she  cleared  with  the  aid  of  fire  and 

3 


her  brothers  her  fields  and  there  she  planted  the  corn  of  many  varieties, 
the  beans  of  diverse  species,  the  yams,  the  sunflowers,  and  the  squashes 
and  sometimes  the  tobacco.  And  when  the  tender  plants  sprouted  she 
was  ready  to  care  for  them  by  keeping  down  the  weeds  and  by  supply 
ing  them  with  sufficient  earth  ;  it  was  she  too  who  harvested  these  crops 
when  they  were  matured,  and  she  stored  them  for  the  sustenance  of  her 
family. 

This  work  in  the  field  was  a  pan  of  her  division  of  lab'or  between 
her  brothers  and  herself,  and  usually  no  man  felt  called  upon  to  aid  her, 
except  when  a  public  emergency  might  arise. 

The  great  importance  of  this  one  industry  of  the  American  Indian 
woman  can  be  appreciated  when  it  is  learned  that  in  many  of  the  tribes 
it  supplied  from  one-half  to  three-fourths  of  the  visible  available  food 
supply. 

LANGUAGE:  In  her  capacity  as  linguist,  the  American  Indian  woman 
in  the  region  north  of  Mexico  had  developed  with  the  aid  of  her  sons  and 
daughters  fifty-eight  entirely  distinct  and  unrelated  stocks  of  languages 
which  comprised  about  seven  hundred  dialects  in  this  region.  These 
languages  and  dialects  were  the  treasure-houses  of  the  poetry,  knowledge 
and  wisdom  of  her  sons  and  daughters,  —  the  sages,  prophets  and 
philosophers  of  her  people ;  into  them  she  talked  the  mythology  and  the 
religion  of  her  people,  a  rich  and  limitless  unwritten  literature  of  which 
any  other  race  might  well  be  proud,  and  the  Maya  and  the  Aztec  woman 
had  aided  in  devising  and  developing  hieroglyphic  systems  of  writing 
which  modern  scholarship  ts  still  unable  to  decipher.  Into  the  terms  of 
these  varied  languages  and  dialects  the  American  Indian  woman  and 
her  sons  have  woven  with  infinite  and  sacred  care  and  aptitude  the  life 
histories  and  the  wisdom  of  their  myriad  gods  and  creators,  and  these 
and  these  stories,  traditions  and  legends  they  have  dramatized  into  vast 
and  complex  systems  of  ceremonies  and  imposing  rituals. 

The  American  Indian  woman  was  thus  the  patron  of  religion.  In 
the  observance  and  conservation  of  these  rituals  and  ceremonies  in  honor 
of  her  gods  consisted  her  religion  and  worship. 

Professor  Mason  aptly  says :  "It  will  be  a  genuine  surprise  and  we 
shall  fail  after  long  inquiry,  if  the  fundamental  ideas  of  the  female 
pantheon  in  primitive  life  be  not  the  four  duties  or  functions  that  have 
been  and  must  remain  the  peculiar  province  of  woman's  activity,  to  writ : 

"i.  The  bearing  and  nurture  of  children;  the  maiden,  the  wife, 
the  mother,  (the  tutor  of  her  children  in  all  arts,  crafts  and  wisdom.) 

"2.     The  nourisher  of  the  human  family,  the  one  who  gives  food. 

"3.     The  maker  of  the  fireside,  the  house,  the  home. 

4 


"4.  The  clothier  <>f  men.  the  spinner,  weaver,  and.  indeed,  general 
guardian  of  peaceful  industry  and  practical  wisdom." 

One  of  the  most  erroneous  and  misleading  beliefs  relating  to  the 
American  Jndian  woman  is  that  she  was  both  before  and  after  marriage 
the  abject  slave  and  drudge  of  the,  men  of  her  tribe. 

This  false  view,  due  largely  to  inaccurate  observation  and  miscon 
ception  of  American  Indian  institutions,  was  perhaps  correct,  at  times, 
as  to  a  very  small  portion  of  the  tribes,  and  only  where  the  environment 
afforded  only  the  barest  necessities  and  needs  of  life,  and.  sometimes, 
withheld  even  this  scanty  meed. 

The  American  Indian  woman  being  domestic,  industrious,  unselfish, 
provident,  adaptive  to  existing  conditions,  and  artistic  in  her  tastes,  is 
well  equipped  for  the  making  of  a  modern  home,  —  one's  own  dwelling- 
place  of  a  time  net  ancient  nor  remote.  —  the  making  of  an  abiding- 
place  of  the  present  time  of  domestic  affections,  of  love,  of  tenderness, 
of  peace  that  is  not  ruffled  nor  broken  by  the  turmoils  and  tempests 
of  life. 

A  home  i:»  not  an  outright  gift  of  God,  but  with  His  merciful  help 
it  is  acquired  in  time  by  a  slow  process  of  building  upon  fixed  laws  of 
life  and  nature. 

Tlie  first  and  most  important  things  about  a  modern  home  is  a 
house,  and  a  house  to  be  a  true  home  must  be  adapted  to  the  require 
ments  (jf  its  occupants,  to  their  position  in  society  and  to  their  means 
and  income. 

The  modern  home  need  not  necessarily  be  large,  but  it  must  be  of 
such  size  as  to  afford  the  largest  measure  of  convenience  and  of  the 
ordinary  comforts  of  life. 

Of  course,  the  woman  alone  cannot  make  such  a  home.  The  man 
who  is  to  share  it  with  her  must  co-operate  with  her  in  working  out 
the  details  of  home-making;  each  has  a  part  to  perform  and  happiness  in 
the  home  cannot  be  attained  unless  the  duty  of  each  is  faithfully  ful 
filled. 

Among  my  people,  the  Chippewa  of  the  great  Algonquin  stock  of 
languages,  each  sex  has  its  own  peculiar  sphere  of  duty. 

To  the  man  belongs  the  duty  and  obligation  of  protecting  his  fam 
ily, — his  wife  or  wives  and  their  offspring  and  near  kindred  and  to 
support  them  with  the  products  of  the  chase  and  of  the  fishery,  to  man 
ufacture  weapons  and  wooden  utensils,  and  commonly  to  provide  suit 
able  timbers  and  bark  for  the  building  of  the  lodge  these  activities 
required  health,  strength  and  skill.  The  warrior  was  usually  absent 
from  his  fireside  on  the  chase,  on  the  warpath,  or  on  the  fishing-trip, 
weeks,  months,  and  sometimes  years;  and  he  was  subjected  to  the  hard 
ships  and  the  perils  of  hunting  and' fighting,  and  to  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  often  without  food  and  shelter. 


To  the  woman  belongs  the  duties  required  in  the  home,  in  the 
lodge.  Taking  care  of  the  children  and  attending  to  the  cooking,  the 
sewing,  the  making  of  mats,  baskets,  and  pottery,  and  utensils  of  bark; 
she  also  gathered  and  stored  edible  roots,  seeds,  berries,  and  plants,  for 
future  use  and  present. consumption ;  the  smoking  of  meats,  and  fish  and 
eels,  brought  by  the  hunters;  when  on  the  march  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
woman  to  care  for  the  cam])  and  its  equipage  and  the  family  belongings, 
in  which  labor  she  was  of  course  assisted  by  the  children  and  such  men 
as  were  incapacitated  for  more  active  service.  Sowing  and  .cultivating 
the  crops  was  chiefly  the  duty  of  the  woman,  although  she  was  at  times 
assisted  by  the  men. 

The  woman  was  industrious,  frugal,  loving  and  affectionate  and 
performed  her  duties  willingly  and  cheerfully.  She  was  not  a  drudge 
and  slave  of  her  husband  and  the  men  of  her  tribe.  She  was  treated 
with  the  respect,  the  esteem,  gentleness  and  loving  consideration  she  so 
richly  merited  and  appreciated. 

Her  native  artistic  ability  enables  her  to  beautify  her  home  in  many 
ways  with  the  materials  which  the  modern  merchant  has  to  sell.  It  was 
rny  good  fortune  to  visit  the  home  of  a  woman  of  Indian  blood,  in 
which  paintings  both  in  water  color  and  oils  richly  adorned  the  walls 
and  a  large  number  of  embroidered  sofa  pillows  of  exquisite  beauty 
graced  the  sofa,  and  in  which  I  saw  a  profusion  of  embroidered  center 
and  individual  pieces  as  well  as  fine  drawn  work  which  adorned  the  din 
ner  table,  and  pieces  of  hand-painted  China  bonbon  dishes,  fruit  dishes 
and  vases  tastefully  placed  here  and  there ;  and  there  I  also  saw  curtains 
of  net  filled  in  with  darning  cotton  with  designs  of  artistic  beauty,  two  of 
which  had  been  originated  by  my  hostess,  and  the  draperies  which  hung 
in  the  space  of  the  folding  doors  between  the  front  and  back  parlors 
were  of  fish  net,  edged  with  tassels  of  her  own  handiwork.  All  these 
things  were  the  product  of  this  noble  woman's  own  hands  and  industry. 
This  woman  took  pride  in  saying  that  everything  in  her  home  except 
the  furniture,  carpets,  the  piano,  and  the  housekeeping  utensils  had  been 
made  with  her  own  hands  or  those  of  her  sister. 

This  woman  in  addition  to  this  did  all  her  own  cooking  of  meats, 
vegetables,  , pastries  and  breads;  she  too  preserved  all  the  fruit,  and  pre 
pared  all  the  pickles,  jellies  and  jams,  used  in  her  household. 

She  had  two  children  and  did  all  the  sewing  for  them  and  herself. 
In  this  manner  she  was  doing  her  full  share  in  the  home-making;  she  was 
a  good  wife  and  a  good  housekeeper. 

This  is,  I  am  proud  to  say,  only  one  example  of  many  happy  homes 
among  people  of  Indian  blood  wherein  the  woman  by  her  natural  in 
dustry  and  thrifty  domestic  management  has  done  her  part  in  the  mak 
ing  of  home. 

6 


In  the  home  I  visited  the  husband  was  a  printer.  He  toiled  hard 
to  support  his  little  family,  often  denying  himself  of  personal  comforts 
in  order  that  he  might  bring  some  pleasing  gifts  to  his  wife  or  children; 
he  counseled  with  and  confided  in  her  concerning  his  business  and  plans ; 
he  realized  that  woman's  quick  intuition  often  sees  at  a  glance  what  a 
man  is  slow  in  discovering.  And  so  even  though  she  did  not  give  him 
great  aid  in  his  business  she  was  thereby  made  happy  by  being  taken  into 
his  confidence,  and  on  the  other  hand  he  was  inspired  by  her  trust  and 
encouragement. 

With  the  training  derived  from  her  mother's  experience  in  cutting  up 
the  meat  products  of  the  chase  the  Indian  woman  possesses  a  knowledge 
which  enables  her  to  purchase  the  exact  piece  of  meat  she  may  want 
for  a  certain  dish.  I  remember  many  a  beef  roas-t  I  was  sent  to  market 
to  purchase  was  turned  into  a  potroast  or  a  stew  by  my  mother  while 
I  was  -learning  to  market,  because  she  recognized  that  that  particular 
piece  or  cut  of  meat  that  i  had  carried  back  to  her  was  not  suitable  for 
the  oven  roast  which  she  had  desired. 

But  the  environments  of  the  primitive  life  of  the  American  Indian 
woman  have  in  large  measure  changed.  Conditions  have  become  trans 
formed  and  so  new  invironments  have  been  created;  new  institutions, 
customs,  laws  and  beliefs  have  gradually  displaced  the  old,  the  ancient ; 
here  lies  the  difficulty  with  the  modern  American  Indian  woman, — her 
people  are  no  longer  independent  and  self-governing;  she  must  change 
her  motives  and  ideals  in  life  and  so  adjust  herself  as  well  as  she  may 
to  these  novel  surroundings  which  have  unsolicited  been  brought  to  her 
door  by  peoples  of  the  eastern  hemisphere;  her  outlook  upon  life  must 
now  be  in  large  measure  from  new  viewpoints.  New  values  must  be 
given  to  the  facts  of  life.  To  secure  welfare  and  happiness  she  must 
adapt  and  wisely  adjust  her  inherent  and  acquired  talents  to  these  modern 
surroundings.  Many  of  the  things  that  were  useful  and  necessary,  yea, 
sacred,  to  her  own  mother  must  now  be  laid  aside.  Methods  of  pro 
ducing,  securing  and  preserving  shelter  and  the  necessaries  of  life  must 
be  adopted  or  change:!  or  discarded  altogether  to  meet  the  new  condi 
tions  of  life  on  this  continent. 

And  the  American  Indian  woman  who  fails  to  realize  this  duty  and 
obligation  to  her  race  in  her  home-making  fails  completely  to  read 
aright  the  signs  of  the  time. 

In  short  the  peculiar  customs,  laws,  beliefs,  and  institutions  of  her 
ancestors  which  do  not  comport  with  these  changed  conditions  and 
which  have  come  into  collision  with  those  which  are  better  adapted  to 
secure  welfare  and  happiness  under  modern  conditions  of  life  must  be 
laid  aside ;  let  them  rest  with  the  glorious  deeds  and  attainments,  the 
heroism  and  the  patriotism,  of  her  ancestors,  in  the  hall  of  fond  memory. 


j.   N.   B.   Hewitt 


"The  Philosophy  of  Indian  Education." 

By  ARTHUR  C.  PARKER. 

A    Paper  read  before  the  First  Annual  Conference  of  The  American   Indian  As 
sociation,  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  October  12  to  15,  1911. 

At  the  time  of  the  white  invasion  of  America,  beginning  in  1492, 
a  new  type  of  ethnic  culture  was  introduced  to  the  continent.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  merits  of  the  institutions  of  the  purely  American 
cultures  before  this  time  or  since,  we  must  recognize  the  fact  that, 
viewed  ethnologically,  the  so-called  civilization  of  the  whites  was  a  dis 
tinct  advance. 

.  Few  American  Indian  tribes  at  the  beginning  of  the  Columbian 
epoch,  especially  those  north  of  Mexico,  were  above  the  iirst  stages  of 
barbarism  and  some  were  pure  savages.  The  new  culture  brought  to 
them  new  ideas  and  new  materials.  It  showed  them,  how  by  the  applica 
tion  of  labor  and  through  change  of  character,  many  hitherto  useless 
objects  could  be  made  to  contribute  to  human  enjoyment  and  how 
through  a  systematized  knowledge  of  natural  laws  that  which  was 
better  and  greater  could  be  devised.  The  simple  American  accustomed 
dily  to  the  simple  things  about  him  and  familiar  only  with  utilizing 
tilings  nearest  at  hand,  saw  a  demonstration  of  the  supreme  power  of 
knowledge  when  he  saw  ships  and  horses,  guns  and  implements  of 
steel.  These  things  gave  men  power,  power  not  only  over  beasts  and 
other  men,  but  po\ver  over  space  and  elements.  The  Indian  was  subtle 
enough  to  see  his  own  weakness  an  1  thus  in  his  own  wray  he  sought  the 
pmvcr  that  the  higher  culture  gave  but  at  the  same  time  protested 
against  it. 

TJTJS  education.,  which  a  higher  culture  gives  by  contract  with  an 
other  culture  is  termed  acculturation.  Ordinarily  we_calljt Civilization. 

When  the  white  race  sought  to  teach  its  culture  to  the  Indian  and 
when  the  Indian  endeavored  to  acquire  it  both  races  discovered  that 
there  was  some  fundamental  difference  that  prevented  immediate  suc 
cess.  The  fault  lay  in  the  chasm  that  separates  one  stage  of  ethnic  cul 
ture  from  another,  it  lay  in  a  difference  of  mental  texture,  in  a  difference 
of  hereditary  influences  and  in  a  difference  of  environment.  The  fault 
did  not  lay  in  a  difference  in  capacity.  In  the  earlier  days  no  one 
stemed  to  recognize  these  facts.  The  white  race  thus  regarded  the  Indian 
as  an  inferior  and  accounted  for  his  failures  on  that  score.  Here  it 
made  a  serious  mistake  for  the  relative  position  of  any  race  as  a  higher 
or  lower  human  group  is  not  measured  by  their  present  cultural  attain- 


nient  b'ut  by  their  capacity  for  advancement  when  placed  in  a  favorable 
environment.*  That  an  ethnic  group  is  found  in  a  lower  stage  than 
some  other  races  does  not  signify  incapacity.  It  may  show,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  healthy  conservatism  that  under  proper  conditions  and  with 
proper  stimuli  will  develop  a  vastly  superior  culture.  Culture  scale  is 
no  measure  of  capacity  or  of  ultimate  attainment.  The  Teuton  and 
the  Gaul  were  hairy  savages  delighting  in  devouring  one  another  when 
other  races  now  decadent  enjoyed  the  acme  of  contemporary  civiliza 
tion. 

Ability  to  imitate  is,  likewise,  no  criterion  of  position  or  capacity. 
A  purely  imitative  race  may  be  a  lower  race,  as  much  as  their  outward 
appearance  may  resemble  a  higher  order.  Contrariwise,  a  conservative 
race,  such  as  the  aboriginal  American,  that  loves  best  things  which  it 
itself  has  produced  and  which  makes  haste  slowly,  after  all,  may  show 
the  most  healthy  growth  and  rise  to  a  superior  position.  If  that  race 
is  ultimately  assimilated  and  absorbed  by  a  greater  body  its  influence  as 
a  factor  in  the  blood  of  the  greater  race  will  then  be  paramount. 

The  reputed  inability  of  the  Indian  to  walk  in  the  white  man's  trail 
is  due  to  a  difference  in  environment  that  differentiates  ethnic  cultures. 
The  Indian  rested  upon  a  different  base. 

Russell  Sage  once  had  a  railroad  that  ran  into  Poughkeepsie.  It 
was  bad  enough  for  it  to  run  into  Poughkeepsie,  but  it  couldn't  help  it. 
It  could  run  no  further.  This  was  not  because  it  lacked  fuel  or  steam, — 
it  had  plenty  of  that.  It  stopped  only  because  it  was  a  physical  impos 
sibility  for  it  to  progress  safely  any  further.  If  it  had  attempted  to 
switch  its  cars  over  on  other  tracks  the  train  would  have  been  wrecked 
and  the  valuable  cargo  lost.  To  avoid  such  a  fate  it  unloaded  its  freight 
for  the  New  York  Central  to  carry  on.  The  trouble  with  the  railroad 
was  that  it  was  Narrow  Gage.  As  fine  as  it  was  and  great  as  it  was  its 
capacity  for  taking  on  freight,  it  could  not  advance  on  a  road  meant  for 
standard  trucks.  To  attempt  this  with  its  limited  running  gear  would 
have  meant  a  smash  up. 

Civilization  today  is  the  present  standard  gage.  Of  what  avail  is 
it  to  load  a  splendid  car  with  precious  freight  and  forgetting  that  its 
trucks  are  narrow  gage,  to  send  it  on  over  standard  tracks  ?  All  is  lost. 
So  with  Indian  education  and  Indian  civilization.  The  underpinning, 
that  which  is  basic,  that  which  a  man  runs  on,  must  receive  attention 
and  must  be  standardized  before  the  superstructure,  as  great  as  it  is, 
may  progress  safely.  If  you  don't  believe  it,  look  at  the  wrecks  along 
the  way. 

Civilization  is  a  matter  of  evolution.  It  is  not  bred  over  night  or 
even  in  a  century.  It  comes  to  a  race  by  a  well  balanced  development 
of  its  mental  and  moral  capacities.  No  race  may  acquire  the  culture  of 

*  Franz  Boas,  Hitman   Faculty  as  Determined  by  Race. 

2 


another  until  every  incident  of  that  other's  environment  is  made  theirs. 
Even  then  the  great  basic  things  of  the  sought  for  culture  must  become 
fundamental  with  the  accreting  race  before  the  desired  elements  of  the 
culture  become  fixed  characters. 

The  Indian  did  not  acquire  civilization  immediately  nor  could  he  at 
once  even  understand  its  complexities.  He  could  not  become  educated 
in  the  folk-ways  and  the  folk-thought  of  the  white  race  for  the  very 
reasons  given.  His  mental  viewpoint,  the  result  of  his  ethnic  stage,  gave 
him  a  different  perspective  and  he  saw  things  in  a  different  if  not  an  al 
together  distorted  light,  though  sometimes  he  saw  quite  clearly,  it  is 
needless  to  say. 

Until  the  peculiar  elements  of  the  culture  of  the  Indian  began  to 
disintegrate  there  could  be  little  hope  of  the  success  of  an  Indian  edu 
cate;)  in  the  white  man's  way  among  his  own  people  and  so  he  went 
back  to  the  blanket.  There  was  no  other  place  to  go.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  educated  Indian  of  former  periods  was  always  a  failure  unless 
by  rare  chance  his  education  had  been  of  the  sort  that  made  him  better 
able  to  live  in  the  environment  in  which  he  was  placed.  With  any 
ethnic  group  there  is  always  a  tendency  to  a  leveling.  Progress  cannot 
be  made  any  faster  than  the  majority  or  their  ruling  element  are  willing 
to  make  it.  He  who  is  in  advance  is  alone,  unprotected  and  despised, 
i/or  very  existence  he  falls  back  into  the  group,  knowing  of  things  be 
yond,  yet  not  daring  to  speak.  The  exceptions  are  the  great  men  who 
cling  to  their  convictions  and  pull  the  masses  with  them  but  usually  the 
gravity  of  the  greater  body  attracts  irresistibly  the  vagrant  corpuscle, 
energized  though  it  is.  The  solitary  educated  Indian  sent  back  to  his 
own  tribe  could  do  little  for  it.  Moreover,  he  could  do  little  for  himself 
for  he  had  lost  his  skill  as  an  Indian  and  his  knowledge  of  most  things 
was  of  little  use  to  his  kinsmen. 

With  the  gradual  acculturation  of  the  Indian  and  with  a  changed 
environment  wherein  he  is  dependent  for  his  life  necessities  upon  the 
commodities  of  the  white  man,  the  field  of  educational  effort  has  be 
come  greatly  enlarged.  There  is  not  the  impassable  gulf  between  the 
educated  Indian  and  one  who  has  not  received  such  advantages,  for  in 
a  general  way  the  external  surroundings  and  necessities  of  each  are 
the  same.  With  the  majority  of  Indian  tribes  there  is  not  now  the  sus 
picion  that  the  educated  Indian  is  a  sort  of  imitation  white  man  who 
may  betray  his  people.  With  this  changed  condition  there  is  a  pos 
sibility  of  greater  success  than  formerly. 

As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  determine,  it  is  the  aim  of  those  re 
sponsible  for  Indian  schools  to  study  the  individual  needs  of  the  student 
and  to  measure  his  aptitude  along  certain  lines.  Discovering  this,  his 
special  training  arid  discipline  are  directed  toward  developing  him  in  the 
most  fitting  way.  The  modern  way  is  to  teach  the  Indian  to  make  a 

3 


living  for  himself.  There  is  therefore  an  elaborate  system  of  practical 
manual  training.  There  are  probably  few  places  in  America  where 
there  is  a  better  opportunity  of  obtaining  a  thorough  working  knowledge 
of  the  necessary  arts  than  at  the  various  Indian  schools.  As  a  rule  the 
officers  of  these  schools  discharge  their  work  with  a  zeal  that  springs 
from  heart  interest.  They  have  an  earnest  desire  to  develop  skill  and 
ambition  and  to  fit  their  pupils  for  the  world's  work.  When  one  of  their 
former  students  "makes  good"  they  feel  amply  repaid  for  their  efforts 
and  no  parent  could  be  prouder. 

Students  that  stick  and  study  receive  the  best  of  that  which  can  be 
given.  The  benefit  depends  alone  upon  the  capacity  of  the  student.  X<> 
school  can  train  a  pupil  beyond  that.  Xo  school  can  produce  new  ma 
terial  ;  it  can  only  shape  and  polish  that  which  is  given  it  and  turn  out 
the  finished  product  when  nothing  more  can  be  clone.  Both  the  student 
and  the  school  have  their  limitations.  If  the  school  is  to  produce  better 
results  one  of  the  prime  necessities  is  better  material  upon  which  to 
work.  There  can  b'e  little  improvement,  however,  until  the  sources 
from  which  the  material  comes  improve.  Reservation  conditions  demand 
immediate  improvement  if  not  entire  regeneration.  Because  reservation 
conditions  are  what  they  are  and  because  reservation  ideals  are  not  what 
they  should  be,  it  is  not  always  possible  for  the  schools  to  obtain  children 
who  have  had  the -best  hereditary  influences  and  the  best  early  training. 
/""Demoralized  social  conditions  are  very  apt  to  produce  an  inferior  people 
l^who  beget  an  inferior  progeny.  A  few  great  minds  rise  above  such  con 
ditions  and  are  brilliant  examples  of  the  possibility  of  overcoming  un 
favorable  environment.  To  the  great  majority,  however,  the  moral  and 
social  conditions  of  reservations  react  doubly.  They  send  out,  in  the  first 
place,  children,  who,  had  their  parents  been  placed  in  better  conditions, 
would  have  been  given  better  brains  and  better  bodies,  hence  greater 
capacity  for  development.  Secondly,  they  invite  back  to  themselves 
their  children  trained  in  schools  that  taught  higher  ideals  and  better 
ways  of  living.  Once  back,  the  student  is  very  apt  to  follow  the  lines 
of  least  resistance  and  live  outwardly,  and  perhaps  inwardly,  like  any 
"poor  Indian  with  untutored  mind."  This  is  the  influence,  among  other 
things,  of  the  "leveling  tendency"  of  social  groups. 

The  recognition  of  such  conditions  points  to  a  new  field  for  educa 
tional  endeavor  among  Indians.  To  insure  a  better  quality  of  students 
and  to  protect  the  returned  student  the  adult  population  of  the  reserva 
tion  must  be  reached  and  taught.  Missionaries  have  done  many  splendid 
things  but  the  limitations  of  their  training  and  the  prescribed  functions 
of  their  calling  have  sornetimes  prevented  their  highest  usefulness.  To 
supplement  their  work,  social  betterment  stations  should  be  established 
where  the  necessary  things  of  hygiene  and  industry  can  be  taught,  and 
these  stations  should  be  under  the  supervision  of  responsible  bodies  re- 

4 


porting  to  the  state  or  to  the  federal  government.  The  appeal  which 
this  idea  is  apt  to  make  to  popular  sympathy  is  very  liable  to  invite  the 
cunning  pseudo-philanthropist  who  through  egotism  and  avarice  may 
do  much  harm  while  seeming  to  do  good;  hence  the  need  of  competent 
jurisdiction.  In  this  connection  it  strikes  me  that  if  the  government 
and  the  state  can  establish  experiment  stations  for  growing  good  vege 
tables  and  breeding  better  cattle,  it  can  likewise  consistently  establish 
industrial  and  social  betterment  stations  among  a  people  to  whom  this 
country  owes  a  great  debt. 

The  first  effort  of  such  an  undertaking,  I  would  suggest,  should  be 
the  teaching  of  independent  action,  of  a  pride  that  would  lead  to  self 
help,  of  a  sentiment  that  would  clamor  for  the  abolition  of  special  laws 
that  permitted  the  operation  of  tribal  customs  not  consistent  with  mod 
ern  progress  and  of  a  lively  desire  to  demonstrate  the  ability  of  the  race 
to  advance. 

It  will  be  admitted  that  the  Indian  cannot  survive  as  an  Indian 
alone.  The  very  fact  that  at  present  the  Indian  is  thought  to  need 
special  laws  and  government  protection  is  an  admission  that  he  is  not 
yet  able  as  a  race  to  compete  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  dominant 
race.  The  Indian  is  not  in  a  self-elected  position  nor  is  he  in  an  in 
dependent  position,  hence  he  is  not  in  an  advantageous  position.  He  is 
in  an  abnomTal__rjosition.  The  modern  American  ideal  is  to  give  to  every 
man  the  right  to  occupy  a  normal  position  in  society,  for  only  the  nor 
mal  can  survive.  In  his  present  dependent  position,  with  a  false  environ 
ment,  the  Indian  can  only  become  crushed  by  the  weight  of  conditions 
about  him.  To  survive  he  must  become  a  contributing  factor  of  society 
and  one  able  by  his  own  efforts  to  attain  a  producing  status.  He  must 
win  in  competition  to  succeed  and  to  win  he  must  become  as  efficient 
as  any  other  member  of  society.  To  make  him  so  is,  or  should  be,  the 
aim  of  every  division  of  Indian  service,  from  the  Department  of  Indian 
Affairs  to  the  reservation  district  school. 

This  modern  America  needs  men  and  women  who  are  efficient.  They 
are  an  economic  necessity  to  the  commonwealth.  Dependent,  inefficient 
and  non-producing  persons  or  communities  are  a  drain  on  the  resources 
of  the  great  body  politic.  Hence  the  need  of  normal  individuals.  ;U  i.-. 

No  body  of  people  in  this  country  can  successfully  remain  apart 
and  distinct  from  it,  nor  can  the  Indian,  whatever  may  be  his  claims, 
hope  to  be  an  exception.  To  survive  at  all  he  must  become  as  other  men, 
a  contributing,  self-sustaining  member  of  society.  This  does  not  mean, 
necessarily,  the  loss  of  individuality  but  the  asserting  of  it.  The  true" 
aim  of  educational  effort  should  not  be  to  make  the  Indian  a  white  man, 
but  simply  a  man  normal  to  his  environment.  Every  Indian  who  has 
succeeded  is  such  a  person.  Hundreds  of  Indians  have  attained  honor- 


able  positions  and  are  as  other  Americans,  yet  they  retain  their  individu 
ality  as  Indians  and  in  reality  are  the  only  Indians  who  can  appreciate 
the  true  dignity  and  value  of  their  race,  and  they  alone  are  able  to  speak 
for  it. 

To  place  the  Indian  in  a  normal  sphere  the  right  kind  of  education 
must  be  given  him.  There  may  be  as  much  madness  in  education  as  in 
anything  else  misapplied.  Some  kinds  of  education  may  be  sheer  folly, 
a  waste  of  effort  and  a  life  long  detriment,  just  as  other  kinds  may  be 
advantageous.  Indian  education  means  or  should  come  to  mean,  more 
than  the  inculcation  and  absorption  of  certain  facts.  It  should  mean  the 
development  of  the  best  inherent  propensities,  the  strengthening  of  weak 
characteristics  and  the  stimulation  to  independent  thought  and  action. 
Indian  educational  effort  should  build  backbone  as  well  as  fatten  brain. 
Any  other  form  of  education  but  adds  the  sting  of  bitterness  to  a  former 
unhappy  state.  Under  certain  conditions  it  may  be  better  for  the  Indian 
to  be  ignorant  than  surfeited  with  mal-education,  but  we  desire  no  such 
conditions  and  no  such  form  of  education. 

The  ultimate  duty  incumbent  on  every  nation  is  to  insure  the  quality 
of  its  future  elements.*  Every  individual  living  in  a  community  is  an 
element  in  its  makeup.  No  nation  can  offord  to  permit  any  person  or 
b'ody  of  people  within  it  to  exist  in  a  condition  at  variance  with  the 
ideals  of  that  nation.  Every  element  perforce  must  become  assimilated. 
I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  the  Indian  should  surrender  his  essential 
individuality  or  his  love  of  more  spiritual  things  and  passively  allow 
himself,  like  clay,  to  be  pressed  into  a  white  man's  mold.  I  do  not  mean, 
by  assimilation,  that  his  love  of  the  great  esthetic  ideals  should  be  sup 
planted  entirely  by  commercial  greed  or  that  his  mind  should  become 
sordid  with  the  conventional  ideas  of  white  civilization,  for  it  is  by  no 
means  yet  established  that  the  existing  form  of  civilization  is  susceptible 
of  no  further  improvement  nor  that  the  white  man  as  a  type  is  the  ul 
timate  model.  I  do  mean,  however,  that  the  Indian  should  accustom 
himself  to  the  culture  that  engulfs  him  and  to  the  force  that  directs  it, 
that. he  should  cease  to  struggle  from  without  against  it,  that  he  should 
b'ecome  a  factor  of  it  and  that  once  a  factor  of  it  he  should  use  his  re 
vitalized  influence  and  more  advantageous  position  in  asserting  and  de 
veloping  the  great  ideals  of  his  race  for  the  good  of  the  greater  race, 
which  means  all  mankind. 

The  future  endeavors  of  the  Indian  American  who  is  in  advance, 
as  well  as  the  efforts  of  the  state  and  the  nation  and  of  the  philanthropic 
institutions  within  them,  must  be  directed,  therefore,  toward  teaching  the 
Indian  to  adapt  himself  to  modern  conditions.  The  ability  to  adapt  is  a 

*A.  C.  Parker.  The  Mission  of  Making  New  Americans  from  Old,  Assembly 
Journal  Feb.  1<U1. 

6 


test  of  the  right  to  survive  and  it  measures  the  capacity  for  assimilation. 
With  this  ability  once  developed  and  fixed  the  Indian  is  ready  to  surge"" 
forward  with  enlightened  mankind  in  the  race  toward  higher  goals  the 
nature  of  which  today  we  may  only  obscurely  dream. 
To  this  end  all  educational  effort  must  be  directed. 


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